Friday, May 3, 2013

New Biodiversity Library Exhibition topic – Nature at your home

Today,
we would like to introduce a new BLE topic called „Nature at your home“, which
will give you an insight on what organisms may be found living near or directly
inside your house.

Nature at your home

„Nature at your home“ presents more than 20 different
species of plants or animals, that have learnt to exploit the benefits of
living close to human settlements. You can find them in your garden, as well as
directly within your house or flat, sometimes being much closer than you have ever thought. Our new topic, however, also shows that
these organisms are also fascinating creatures of the nature. Have you, for
example, known that Oriental Cockroach (Blatta orientalis) is able to survive several weeks without its head until
it starves to death? Or that the Human Flea (Pulex irritans) posseses the most complex reproductive organs among
the animals? If not, then all you need to do is to go through our new topic at
the BLE website!

All of
the information, pictures and paintings in „Nature at you home“ are linked to their original sources at BHL, EoL or Europeana. Stay tuned!

Countless natural history treasures are deposited in museums across the world, many hidden away beyond easy access. The OpenUp! project represents a free portal to these resources, offering virtual access to over one million items of the world’s biodiversity heritage. The objects made available through OpenUp! consist of high quality photos, videos and sounds, as well as natural history artworks and specimens, and include many items previously inaccessible to visitors. Information provided through OpenUp! will be checked by scientists and made freely available through the Europeana portal at www.europeana.eu.